iRV2.com RV Community - Are you about to start a new improvement on your RV or need some help with some maintenance? Do you need advice on what products to buy? Or maybe you can give others some advice? No matter where you fit in you'll find that iRV2 is a great community to join. Best of all it's totally FREE!

You are currently viewing our boards as a guest so you have limited access to our community. Please take the time to register and you will gain a lot of great new features including; the ability to participate in discussions, network with other RV owners, see fewer ads, upload photographs, create an RV blog, send private messages and so much, much more!

I'm curious about some things. In the year 2011 I made $30,055 in income. Does this make me one of the rich people or poor people? I paid in $2,661 in federal tax and $1,099 in state tax. What percentage of my income is that? Does that make me one of the overtaxed people or the undertaxed people? Should I be happy or mad? I need you guys on the Internet to tell me because if I see it on the Internet it must be true.

Ahh yes, only truth ever be spoken on the Net!!

Regarding your tax situation, is the $30,055 your gross income or your taxable income? It sounds more like your taxable income. Are you married, single, head of household, or other?

Your simple question brings about the complexity of the OP's video. There are so many variables that a relatively simple question can't be answered without another whole set of questions being sent right back at you. Whenever we deal in broad generalities we try to put answers out there without asking the other questions.

I have no idea who is responsible for this quote, but it's a good one, "All generalities, including this one are untrue." Kind of fits this thread, doesn't it?

It gets much more complicated very quickly. What were your deductions? Was any of that income Social Security? Any of it self-employed income? How much more did you pay in SS deductions, FICA, health insurance,... The list goes on. Are you 65 or older? Blind? Dependents?

If your gross income was that $30,000, then you're borderline poor (depending on size of family and what state you're in) and very close to median for many states.

One more thought, February of this year, 6 - 1/2 years to go to 59-1/2 (retirement) froze our pension = with factor =$200,000.00 not going into my pension fund for me,Health Care was $10.00 co-pay Select blue = now= $500.00 deductible,10% copay till it reaches $5,000.00 out of pocket annually , Raised retirement age from 59-1/2 to 62. I am very thankful for my job and am glad to be working and have a good job......but I still FAIL to understand or see where this action by the Billionaire that I work for has benefited me in any way? What I have typed here is just what happened to app. 3,000 people where we work, so now enlighten me as to who has profited from this type of action?
Admits record profits for the Refining Co.

Post from yesterday...

Same here...6-7 years ago because of a under-funded union pension fund our pensions were cut in half going forward...half = 50% deduction....Even with the government forcing our company to contribute more we have not seen the pension fund get much better. So the union has put in steps to discourage a person from retiring...They want you keep on the working till 67+ or till your health fails....And what used to be union paid healthcare once you hit retirement is now $600 a month out of a $1500 a month pension.... And I work in a industry that wears down a persons body.

There are so many fellow co-workers who are plain "worn out". I don't see how they will ever enjoy retirement....I plan to retire at age 53ish only because I understood money at a early age. I mean real early....Age 12 or 13 I started my first IRA with paper route money. You don't need to be rich to retire, just live at a lifestyle that supports your funds. Some of us RV with pushers, gassers, 5ers, tt's or tents....We're all doing what were here for just some of us have bigger units....My last 05' tt I had 380 nights...

I know quite a few who are 100% disabled and I have no problem with a system that supports them. In San Francisco they will give you cash just for showing up and collecting. While in NYC last year we noticed a large number of Men all wearing matching T-Shirts. They were picking up trash, sweeping, etc. Our guide told us they were all on some kind of "welfare" and had to work to get their money. I was very impressed as NYC was very clean.

Ummmm.....OK. And your point is? (My post was intended to do nothing more than correct a math error. I made no statement whatsoever regarding the adequacy or lack of same of $577.98/week income. I really wouldn't know about welfare benefits as I've been employed every day since college 44 years ago and have never applied for welfare.)

This echos my experience at trying to help a homeless beggar near our office building. He was always there near the end of the day, asking for 40 cents. He appeared to be in good physical shape. One day I happened to have a small package that needed to be delivered about 2 blocks away. I was going to take it but decided to ask this person if they would like to earn $5 and take it for me. It was a small gift for someone who had done me a favor and who would have appreciated it being delivered by someone who needed the money.

He declined and said this was his busy time and he would miss out making some money if he did that. What?

So. What are you to do? Apparently there are enough people who hand out freebies for this person to be satisfied and keep him from getting an honest job. Is that the way to really help a person or are you just pacifying your own misplaced sense of guilt? Isn't this how our welfare system works also? People become "satisfied" being poor on welfare and food coupon receipts and this keeps them from having to make the effort to get some kind of job, any kind of job, to better their situation.

It is not the "haves" that cause this downward spiral. It is the ones who encourage people to be satisfied being poor that cause it.

Don

I wouldn't trust any stranger I hadn't met and didn't know to deliver a parcel for me.
Sounds like your five dollars wasn't enough to make him leave his begging post. Each of us works to our own best interest.
So easy to judge others knowing nothing about them.
I also don't judge people before I know them, and accept them for who they are.
I don't see anything dishonest about what he is doing to make money, when people are willing to give it to him. As long as he isn't stealing it from their pockets.
I have no guilt. Guilt is a wasted emotion - when you feel it, give it five minutes of your time, and then move on. I don't know anyone who is 'satisfied' with being poor, but I'm sure there are some. Some of them are single mothers who have decided that it is better to be poor and raise their own children than to get a job, and have someone else raise their children.
Who encourages people to be satisfied being poor?

Ummmm.....OK. And your point is? (My post was intended to do nothing more than correct a math error. I made no statement whatsoever regarding the adequacy or lack of same of $577.98/week income. I really wouldn't know about welfare benefits as I've been employed every day since college 44 years ago and have never applied for welfare.)

Rusty

Point is that rate of pay for working is about $60 over what a single welfare recipient receives. That's all.